U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Environmental Health

Goal: Promote healthier environments to improve health.

Volunteers wearing gloves and holding trash bags clean up litter at a lake.

More than 12 million people around the world die every year because they live or work in unhealthy environments.1 Healthy People 2030 focuses on reducing people’s exposure to harmful pollutants in air, water, soil, food, and materials in homes and workplaces. 

Environmental pollutants can cause health problems like respiratory diseases, heart disease, and some types of cancer.2 People with low incomes are more likely to live in polluted areas and have unsafe drinking water. And children and pregnant women are at higher risk of health problems related to pollution.3,4 

Tracking environmental pollutants is key to figuring out where and how people are exposed. Laws and policies to reduce different types of pollution can also help prevent many serious health problems and deaths.  

Objective Status

  • 2 Target met or exceeded
  • 3 Improving
  • 2 Little or no detectable change
  • 1 Getting worse
  • 2 Baseline only
  • 2 Developmental
  • 0 Research

Learn more about objective types

Related Objectives

The following is a sample of objectives related to this topic. Some objectives may include population data.

Environmental Health — General

Reduce exposure to bisphenol A — EH‑10
Baseline only
Reduce exposure to perchlorate — EH‑11
Baseline only
Reduce diseases and deaths related to heat — EH‑D02
Developmental
Reduce exposure to lead — EH‑08
Improving
Reduce exposure to mercury in children — EH‑09
Improving
Reduce exposure to arsenic — EH‑07
Getting worse
Increase the proportion of people whose water supply meets Safe Drinking Water Act regulations — EH‑03
Target met or exceeded

Neighborhood and Built Environment

Reduce the amount of toxic pollutants released into the environment — EH‑06
Target met or exceeded
Reduce health and environmental risks from hazardous sites — EH‑05
Improving
Reduce the number of days people are exposed to unhealthy air — EH‑01
LHI label
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of schools with policies and practices that promote health and safety — EH‑D01
Developmental

Transportation

Increase trips to work made by mass transit — EH‑02
Little or no detectable change

Other topics you may be interested in

References

1.

Prüss-Ustün, A., Wolf, J., Corvalán, C., Bos, R., & Neira, M. (2016). Preventing Disease Through Healthy Environments: A Global Assessment of the Burden of Disease from Environmental Risks. Retrieved from https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/204585/9789241565196_eng.pdf;jsessionid=09B50968F412E8B2DFD3E8FFDA7C200E?sequence=1This link is external to odphp.health.gov. [PDF - 5 MB]

2.

Brusseau, M.L., Ramirez-Andreotta, I.L., & Maximillain, J. (2019). Environmental Impacts on Human Health and Well-Being. Environmental and Pollution Science, 3, 477-499. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-814719-1.00026-4This link is external to odphp.health.gov. 

3.

Landrigan, P.J., et al. (2017). Pollution: Think of the Children. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 1(4), 249. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(17)30133-5This link is external to odphp.health.gov. 

4.

van den Hooven, E.H. et al. (2011). Air Pollution, Blood Pressure, and the Risk of Hypertensive Complications During Pregnancy. Hypertension, 57, 406-412. https://doi.org/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.110.164087This link is external to odphp.health.gov.